What do Americans Want?
The majority of Americans looking to buy a home want good schools
and good neighborhoods that are walkable.
Those are the findings of a recent survey by the National Association of REALTORS®
(NAR).
According to the survey, Americans value schools and neighborhoods more highly than size of home.
When considering a home purchase, fifty-six percent want neighborhoods where
they can walk to parks, restaurants and entertainment instead of having to drive.
Seventy-seven percent say an abundance of sidewalks is important.
Fifty percent of respondents would opt for improving existing
transportation infrastructure rather than the construction of new roads and
other developments.
Three out of five would choose to buy a smaller
home if by doing so they could reduce commuting time to 20 minutes or less. Eighty
percent prefer living in single-family detached homes but not if it means
driving a longer distance to work.
What do Buyers Want?
Survey results from studies conducted by Bank Rate.com support my own experience. Buyers
are looking for well-maintained homes in good condition. Buyers want squeqky clean homes with clean walls, fresh paint, updated kitchens, bathrooms and
windows. They want top notch appliances in good working condition. Buyers also want patios, tiled
and hardwood floors and mountain views, all at a reduced price.
Comparatively, so many homes are for sale that buyers can afford
to pick and choose and drive a hard bargain in the process. That's becaise they can generally
find comparable homes on the same street or one over, for the same price.
What Buyers Don’t Want
Buyers are not looking for fixer uppers!
So what happened to the fixer-upper homes, sold as is, that flew off the market within days just a few years ago? They provided opportunities for buyers with little
or no down payment to afford a home. These days, however, Diamond in the rough, fixer-upper homes are languishing on the market with fewer and fewer takers.
Fewer first-time homebuyers are out shopping
for homes because the housing market is no longer favorable to them. Increasingly, they must cope with stringent lending practices that are likely to become even more so if
the Qualified Residential Mortgage (QRM) rule goes into effect with its 20
percent down payment requirement.
An increased supply of newer short sale and bank-owned homes
on the market compete in price with fixer-uppers and make the
price of fixer-uppers less attractive to traditional buyers.
Investors who were attracted to fixer-uppers for rehab and
flipping are ignoring them because they can have their pick of newer, discounted
short sale and bank-owned properties with potentially fewer deferred
maintenance needs and lower rehab costs.
What Can Sellers Do?
Sellers are discovering that selling as is, no matter what the price, is no longer as attractive to buyers as it
once was. So what are savvy sellers doing to get their homes sold? They are teaming up with their REALTORS, taking care of deferred
maintenance, updating, staging and pricing their homes right to attract
buyers.
Eloise Gift